ATi responses challenge of NV30 with R350

[Zephyr]

From Digitimes(http://www.digitimes.com.tw ):

ATi will publish its new product R350 at the same time with the debut of NV30. However, R350 will use 150nm, not 130nm which is used by NV30.

Besides, ATi will also publish R350's value version RV350 for a while.

Volume NV30 will be yielded from TSMC in Nov.

ATi thinks that the cost of R350 with 150nm is almost same as that of NV30 with 130nm because of poor yield rates for 130nm technology.

The link: http://www.digitimes.com.tw/news/Ne...002&DatePublish=2002/09/30&Pages=02&All_Seq=3

 

[nggalai]

Hi Zephir,

sorry, I don't speak chinese (mandarin?)--is this published in the rumour bin, or are sensible sources mentioned in that article?

ta,
-Sascha.rb

 

[Nagorak]

If this is true it looks like ATi is going to a six month product cycle and is trying to pay back Nvidia for the GF3 Ti embarassment at the R8500 launch.

 

[Sabastian]

I do think that ATi has intensions of making the nv30 launch as lackluster as possible. ATi is in a position where it has to hold the high end for an extended time periode for the sake of brand recognition that the OEMs like so much. IMHO of course.

 

[Evildeus]

English version:

http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article3.asp?datePublish=2002/09/30&pages=02&seq=3

 

[martrox]

Looks like ATI is doing to nVidia what nVidia has been doing to everyone else for the last 3 years!

So, I guess the flamewars can move on to the R350 vs. NV30 now......

 

[Evildeus]

Well, all depends on the gap between the actual R300, the R350 and NV30. From the little history we have, i don't think the R350 will get out before febuary 03 (otherwise i'm not sure it's profitable).

Ths point is, we have some more "rumors" saying that NV30 will go in mass production in november: that's good for Nvidia.

As for the R350, well, if the NV30 can compete with it in terms of performance and features, and the 0.13 yield gets better, i'm not sure it's a good bet from ATI: if i can wait, why should i buy a R300 now if in 3 month a R350 and the NV30 is present? I've always thought that ATI would get the R350 out in febuary/march 2003 in 0.13 process.

 

[mboeller]

Well, all depends on the gap between the actual R300, the R350 and NV30. From the little history we have, i don't think the R350 will get out before febuary 03 (otherwise i'm not sure it's profitable).

Ths point is, we have some more "rumors" saying that NV30 will go in mass production in november: that's good for Nvidia.

As for the R350, well, if the NV30 can compete with it in terms of performance and features, and the 0.13 yield gets better, i'm not sure it's a good bet from ATI: if i can wait, why should i buy a R300 now if in 3 month a R350 and the NV30 is present? I've always thought that ATI would get the R350 out in febuary/march 2003 in 0.13 process.

DaveBaumann already mentioned 1,5 months ago that the R350 would use the 0,15µm process and that ATi will introduce the newer 0,13µm process only later (IMHO maybe the R400).

 

[Evildeus]

DaveBaumann already mentioned 1,5 months ago that the R350 would use the 0,15µm process and that ATi will introduce the newer 0,13µm process only later (IMHO maybe the R400).

My bad then, but by the time i was on vacation far away from any computer

 

[T2k]

Do we know any specs?
I think it's gonna be just a refreshed R300 - probably DDRII and faster...

 

[Luminescent]

Isn't it supposedly supporting PS & VS 3.0?

 

[Zephyr]

Hi Zephir,

sorry, I don't speak chinese (mandarin?)--is this published in the rumour bin, or are sensible sources mentioned in that article?

ta,
-Sascha.rb

AFAIK, Digitimes.com is very different with Theinquire.net. U know, chips from both ATi and nVidia are yielded in Taiwan.

Do we know any specs?
I think it's gonna be just a refreshed R300 - probably DDRII and faster...

It is possible that R350 has 16 texture units and an optimized triangle setup engine, IMHO.

 

[alexsok]

It is possible that R350 has 16 texture units and an optimized triangle setup engine, IMHO.

My bet:
400+mhz core
900-1000mhz DDRII
16 texture blocks arranged as 8x2

and more...

 

[Zephyr]

Isn't it supposedly supporting PS & VS 3.0?

I don't think a chip using 150nm tech can support VS/PS 3.0.

 

[Zephyr]

It is possible that R350 has 16 texture units and an optimized triangle setup engine, IMHO.

My bet:
400+mhz core
900-1000mhz DDRII
16 texture blocks arranged as 8x2

and more...

Due to 150nm tech, I have a little bit suspiction about 400+MHz core.

 

[alexsok]

Isn't it supposedly supporting PS & VS 3.0?

No hardware coming out soon will actually comply to PS & VS 3.0 standards...

Dynamic branching in PS requires huge amounts of transistors (much more so than in VS), so don't count on that...

 

[alexsok]

Due to 150nm tech, I have a little bit suspiction about 400+MHz core.

Well... I heard reports of people overclocking it to 470mhz... so anything is possible!

 

[Zephyr]

Due to 150nm tech, I have a little bit suspiction about 400+MHz core.

Well... I heard reports of people overclocking it to 470mhz... so anything is possible!

Air cooling? U know, I have used four different R9700 Pro cards which come from ATi, CP Tech, S-Media and Creative, the best of them only can touch 340MHz.

 

[jb]

Anadtech had an review on one that hit 400mhz:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1686

 

[BRiT]

I've seen some people replace the heatsink with something better and put heatsinks on the ram chips and some give it a slight boost in voltage and have hit 375+Mhz range.

From the same Anandtech review:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1686&p=4
"In order to put our worries to rest, we then tried overclocking ATI's Radeon 9700 Pro card - the same card we used in our review. While we couldn't hit 400MHz on this card, we managed to get as high as 378MHz reliably. Without any additional cooling, this gave us a good deal of faith in ATI's ability to deliver an even higher clocked version of the R300 on their current 0.15-micron process. Should NVIDIA make an impressive showing of NV30 before the end of this year, it would not be out of ATI's reach to release a 350 - 400MHz R300 with faster memory to compete without any significant changes to the core.

It's clear that ATI is well aware of this potential of the R300, which is why they told us months ago that when the NV30 launches they will have something even faster up their sleeves. ATI doesn't need a 0.13-micron process to ramp up the clock speed of the R300, but they will need faster memory. "

--|BRiT|